Debbie Fish

Debbie Fish is a site-specific installation artist and set designer with a background in theatre and economics. Her environmental works have been installed in various outdoor locations across New Zealand as well as in Chile and Taiwan. Recent installations locations and events in New Zealand and other areas include SACO Contemporary Art Biennial in Antofagasta, Chile, Sculpture on the Gulf in Waiheke Island, Whairepo Lagoon and Lux Light Festival in Wellington, Pūtahitanga in Christchurch, Sculpture in the Gardens in Auckland, and National Museum of Marine Science & Technology in Keelung, Taiwan. Debbie’s recent exhibitions include Waiheke Community Art Gallery in Waiheke Island, Auckland Botanic Gardens, 30 Upstairs Gallery, Artrium Gallery, and Matchbox Studios in Wellington.

Often emanating light or reflecting sunrays from metallic sheens and surfaces, the site-specific installations of Debbie Fish often depict either aquatic life, coastal birds, or sea-forms similar to algae or seaweed. Her passion for the ocean becomes apparent in these mythologically-inspired accentuations of curvature regarding the anatomy and geometry of organic life. With a great sense of angularity, these installations are not mere representations, but rather larger-than-life-sized-scale curved accents containing the essence of these breathtaking creatures. From marine mammals to fish to seagulls, the installations serve as luminous symbols behaving as a standard to idealize and glorify these magnificent entities.

Usually containing wired frames and sometimes having stitched metallic pieces which act like fish scales or feathers reflecting in the light, the works of Debbie Fish are meant to compliment their natural environments rather than behave as a disturbance. Conceptually, these pieces behave as works which venerate conservation and ecology because of their iconography of birds and sealife among shorelines. The coast and coastal waters seem to compliment well with these installations beyond the symbolic associations in regard to the metallic pieces which reflect both water as well as light and contain aquatic elements within from the prismatic colors shining from reflections. In terms of the wired and scaled frames of the subjects, Debbie Fish conveys these creatures and forms as organic beings which are portrayed as structures. These structural configurations convey suggestive expressions of a metaphor containing an ecosystem in the crucial sustainment of the environment from these creatures depicted.

Reflecting on Hauraki (pictured above) depicts metallic flat circular objects which shimmer on the beautiful New Zealand coastline. They are stationed in a manner to move in the direction of the wind, which has them reflect light in a glass-like manner. As a result the sunlight shines upon the landscape, the sky, and the viewer. Such a clever installation works with and accentuates the environment in both form and function.

With an astonishing career in artistic set design through her company GoldFish Creative as well as an impressive portfolio of site-specific environmental installations on beautiful landscapes and shorelines, Debbie Fish’s work will stand the test of time. These monumental works communicate several concepts through their wired frames, reflective surfaces, and organic-iconic forms such as the importance of ecology and conservation. Such glorifications of organisms and creatures amidst the New Zealand coasts with structural features suggests a ‘New Art Nouveau’, which behaves as nature-inspired motifs with contemporary-industrial materials, giving deeper purpose to contemporary image-making.

https://www.goldfishcreative.co.nz